Where Winning is a Matter of Perspective
by SkywardShadow
Summary: Shisui wins a bet and Itachi is oblivious. :Early Valentine's Day fluff: :ItaShi:


**A/N: Was picking through my massive 'unfinished' folder from last year and decided to finish this one. Some early Valentine's Day fluff for you. xD**

_Where Winning is a Matter of Perspective_

"Hey, Itachi!"

The boy in question glanced up to see a familiar figure barreling towards him. He watched as Shisui picked up speed—and more speed—and more—until it became clear that his friend would not be able to put on the metaphorical brakes in time.

Itachi sighed quietly to himself and waited until Shisui was scarcely a foot in front of him. Then, with practiced ease, he neatly sidestepped the older boy.

Shisui went skidding past Itachi and, predictably, flew headfirst into the wall of the main house with a crash and a yelp. Itachi watched mildly as one of his mother's wind chimes quivered on its frail string before giving in, falling onto Shisui's head with a clang and provoking a second yelp.

Now seemed to be an appropriate time to speak up.

"Shisui-nii?" Itachi asked delicately.

A piteous groan informed him that Shisui was in decent enough shape to be talking, so he continued. "I believe I've mentioned this before, but no matter how fast you run, I don't think you'll be able to teleport from one place to another simply by doing it. Maybe you would do better to switch to a less self-destructive venture."

"Where do you _learn_ these words?" Shisui complained, standing and trying to untangle the chimes from his curly hair.

"Reading. _Books_," was the pointed reply.

Shisui rolled his eyes and, having succeeded in extricating the chimes, seemed inclined to forget the matter altogether. "Whatever. Hey, listen, the reason I came over was to ask if you'd settle a bet."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. This could not possibly mean anything good. "A bet?"

"Yup. See, I got into this conversation with Hana-"

"The same Hana who almost took your head off with a kunai your first day at the Academy?" Itachi interrupted.

"The same," Shisui replied, unfazed. "Anyway, you came up. We got to discussing how much of a stick-in-the-mud you were."

Itachi nodded politely and tried not to feel insulted.

"And I mentioned that you were so clueless about social stuff that you probably didn't even know what today is."

It occurred to him that he did not, in fact, know what today was.

"Hana said there was no way anyone was _that_ oblivious," Shisui pressed on, oblivious himself to the way his friend's eyes narrowed at the unintentional jab. "So we made a bet. If I'm right, then she has to do those decoding assignments I'm behind on. But if she's right, then I'm stuck cleaning out her family's kennels for a week."

Shisui grinned. "So? C'mon, I know I'm right. Nobody knows you better than I do."

Itachi was still rather smarting from all of the rapid-fire insults and stayed silent.

Shisui's face fell. "You're kidding. You're gonna pick this _one_ time to be perceptive and doom me to a week of the Inuzuka's stupid, smelly dogs, aren't you?"

It was tempting at that moment. Extremely tempting. But try as he might, Itachi couldn't remember anything special about the 14th. It wasn't April Fool's Day (he'd been forced to memorize that date very early on as a child, thanks to his cousin, so that he could remember to lock all of his doors and windows and not venture outside if he could help it). It wasn't Shisui's birthday, or Sasuke's, or his own. There were no missions or special training lessons scheduled.

Eventually, Itachi was forced to give a sullen shake of the head.

Shisui threw his head back and positively cackled. "I _so_ knew it; see, this is why she should know better than to mess with-"

He caught a glimpse of Itachi's arched eyebrow and, possibly recalling the same incident Itachi was (wherein Hana had practically force-fed him his own hand at the tender age of six, and then again at thirteen), abandoned that particular notion. Instead he settled for crowing over his shoulder while she probably couldn't hear and eviscerate him.

"Anyway, I win—eat that, Inuzuka!" He turned back to Itachi, the grin returning full force. "Thanks, 'tachi. I'm gonna go rub this in her face. Uh…carefully."

"Go ahead," Itachi responded irritably.

Shisui ruffled his hair (which Itachi hated with a deep and burning passion) and bolted in the direction of the Inuzuka compound. He was quickly out of sight, leaving Itachi to ponder mulishly the fact that his best friend liked to have conversations with other people about what a dolt he was.

It occurred to him after a while that he was edging dangerously close to sulking, and whatever else they were Uchiha shinobi did not _sulk_, so he decided to visit the training grounds and get some extra practice in. At least _he_ would be doing something productive with his time, instead of making cryptic comments about 'what today is' and insulting people for no good reason.

Thus satisfied, Itachi turned on his heel and was beginning to walk back to the compound when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around and was surprised to see Shisui standing right behind him, having apparently appeared out of nowhere.

Itachi's question about that died in his throat as Shisui leaned over and kissed his forehead.

All of his higher mental faculties were immediately devoted to not saying or doing anything stupid for the next ten seconds or so.

It was only after Shisui pulled back, grinning like a fool, and bid him a cheerful "Happy Valentine's Day" before flickering away before Itachi's eyes, that Itachi thought perhaps it wasn't so terrible to be a dolt every now and again.

_End_


End file.
